


wake me up when it's all over

by cissamione



Category: Last Tango In Halifax
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 16:05:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16936365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cissamione/pseuds/cissamione
Summary: Kate's in a coma after the accident, and Caroline is waiting by her bedside.





	wake me up when it's all over

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the majority of this back in March, and I just finished it off. There may be a second chapter, but no promises, so leave a comment and let me know if you want more.  
> Enjoy!

Caroline ended her phone call to William as she answered the door. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw two police officers in bright raincoats standing in the rain. There was a pause before the taller one spoke, “Dr Caroline Elliot?”

“Yes,” Caroline stepped back and waved them into the hall, “ah, no, actually, I got married yesterday, it’s McKenzie-Dawson now. Sorry, how can I help you?”

“A jeep registered to a Dr Elliot at this address was involved in a collision this morning.” The tall officer spoke again.

Caroline blinked as she processed what he was saying. “Kate? Is Kate okay?”

This time it was the shorter officer with the serious face who spoke, “A woman carrying a license identifying her as Ms Katherine McKenzie has been taken to St Mary’s Hospital.”

“Oh, god,” Caroline gasped as she placed a hand against the wall to steady herself. “I need to-”

“We’ll drive you over, Dr McKenzie-Dawson.” The taller one said as Caroline grabbed her cardigan.

Caroline flinched as a thought struck her. “What about the baby, is she alright?”

“I’m afraid we don’t know.” The tall officer said as they quickly crossed from the doorway to the police car. The drive to the hospital was tense and fraught with worry on Caroline’s part. The two police officers handed her over to a nurse, who guided her up to waiting room and to another nurse.

“What’s happening?” Caroline asked the second nurse tersely.

The brunette nurse, Rachel, the name tag said, handed Caroline a polystyrene cup of weak tea. “Your wife is in theatre now, Mrs McKenzie-Dawson. The immediate concern for the surgeon is the baby. Your wife’s waters broke in the ambulance, and the baby is being delivered by caesarean section. Her most worrying injury is a knock to the head, and she has a broken wrist, most likely sustained while trying to break her fall.”

“When is she coming out of theatre?” Caroline asked, slightly more calmly now she knew some of what was going on. She locked away the emotions threatening to drown her, and flicked on her facade.

“I can’t say for sure, but the baby will be taken to the nursery on the maternity ward.” Rachel squeezed Caroline’s forearm in what Caroline supposed was meant to be a reassuring gesture. “Give me a yell if you need anything.” She smiled once more and walked away, leaving Caroline on a hard plastic chair on her own.

Caroline pulled her phone from her pocket and began to call her mother, but stopped. Would Celia care? Caroline decided that she needed her mother’s comfort and tapped call, pressing the phone to her ear, but it rang out. She tried again, and then a third time, but Celia wasn’t picking up. Caroline tried Alan’s number, but he wasn’t picking up either. As a last resort, Caroline called Gillian, and just as Caroline was giving up, she answered. Caroline asked for her mother, explaining that Kate was in hospital, and eventually Gillian handed the phone over to Celia.

Caroline sat, lost in her thoughts, for the next hour, watching with detachment as the baby was wheeled out in an incubator by two nurses and taken upstairs. When Celia arrived with Alan, Gillian, and Gary, Caroline realised her face was wet with tears as she answered Celia’s questions.

“Caroline?” Caroline turned and saw a surgeon in red scrubs behind her. “My name is Jessell Malik, why don’t you come through here and we’ll have a chat.” Caroline nodded numbly. “Are these your parents? Would you like them to come too?”

“Yeah.” Caroline said hoarsely, following Dr Malik into another room, Celia and Alan behind her. They all sat down on more hard plastic chairs, and Dr Malik leaned forwards, his elbows on his knees. “How’s Kate?”

“The baby was delivered healthy, if a little underweight, she’s been taken to the neonatal ward upstairs.” Dr Malik explained gently.

Celia smiled softly. “A girl!”

“Yeah,” Caroline said dismissively, “we knew that.”

Dr Malik cleared his throat, and Caroline blinked, refocusing on him. “It was necessary that your wife be medically induced into a comatose state, to allow time for her head injury to heal.”

“How long for?” Caroline asked quickly, hot, fresh tears falling down her cheeks.

“We don’t know yet. When we feel she is healed, we will take her off the anaesthetic, but she may not wake up immediately.

Caroline could feel her chest constricting with panic. “But she will wake up?”

“We cannot be completely certain.”

***

Caroline was sitting by Kate’s bedside, holding her limp hand. Machines were beeping incessantly, and Kate wasn’t moving except the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. It had been two days of this, and Celia had taken to reminding Caroline of how awful she looked, how tired, hoe drawn, how pale, but Caroline couldn’t summon the energy to care. She hadn’t visited the baby yet either, but she was sure Gillian had watched over her enough. All Caroline could think was ‘why Kate? Why not her? Why not anybody else on the planet? Why her Kate?”

A machine of undetermined purpose beeped and a line of it’s screen wiggled, and Caroline lifted her swollen and dry eyes to Kate’s face. By the first sunrise, she had cried all her tears, and the had been almost catatonic for the whole day, then last night, everything had hit her again, and she was sobbing uncontrollably for hours, clinging onto Kate’s hand, and eventually the tears had ceased to a slow weeping trickle throughout the day, and as the sun set again, Caroline began to fear the darkness.

Caroline jumped when she heard a faint moan, and she had to sit very still and listen for it again to make sure it hadn’t come from her, and sure enough, the moan sounded again, accompanied by a wiggle of the limp fingers held tightly in Caroline’s hands. “Kate?” She croaked, her voice barely making a sound but full of hope. She hadn’t really spoken to anyone in days, not even to Kate’s comatose form.

There was another low groan and Kate began to roll her head over to face Caroline, through her eyes remained closed as her chest rose and fell with a faster rhythm than before. “Kate, darling?” Caroline tested her voice again, her eyes welling up with more tears as she reached to press the call button.

“Love, it’s alright, I’m here, you’re alright.” Caroline mumbled as she kissed Kate’s hand gently, and a nurse ran into the room. “She’s waking up.” Caroline whispered, and the nurse looked at her for a long moment, then rounded the bed and began to check Kate over, allowing Caroline to keep her wife’s hand held in hers.

“You’re right, she is,” the nurse said calmly to Caroline. “I’ll send the doctor in soon.”

Caroline watched, enraptured, as Kate’s eyelids slowly flickered open, revealing soft brown irises surrounded by bloodshot sclera. Caroline didn’t say everything, she couldn’t, her heart was beating so loudly and her throat was closing up.

“Baby?” Kate’s voice cracked and squeaked, dry from disuse. “My baby?”

“She’s alright, she’s good.” Caroline said, sure that that as what she had been told. “I’ll text Gillian to bring her down to meet her mummy.” Caroline said with the twitchings of a false smile as she tried to reassure Kate.

“Okay… wife.” Kate whispered as their eyes met.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments, they are all so encouraging


End file.
